We woke up early and headed to breakfast and then to the top deck to watch as we sailed out of Budapest. We began our journey at 8 am from the dock. We sailed through Hungary most of the morning. The land was flat for the most part. It was interesting to watch the shore line as we sailed. Every now and then would be a fisherman, but instead of a pickup sitting along side of him, there was generally a bicycle. Also absent along the Danube was the presence of Leisure Craft boats. There was only a rare spotting of a speed boat or even a small horsepower fishing boat. Most probably a sign of the economy. Also there was rarely a sign of a home along the water other than in a village as we sailed by.

We forgot to mention earlier that the “Blue Danube” in Budapest is far from blue. It is much closer to the Muddy Missouri in tone.

As we sailed along, we occasionally would pass a beach and would see some folks sunbathing along the shore. Just like back home, someone would occasionally stop and wave at the ship going by. At one of the small villages there was a group of children, probably in a class, gathered in a circle near a building not far from shore. The children were laughing and yelling like children do all over the world.

We sailed out of Hungary into Slovakia and the same pattern continued. Flat land and trees line the shoreline and again, occasional fisherman, runners and bikers along the riverfront. It is a lovely piece of the earth. The river is about ½ mile wide in most spots. The shoreline is finished with large rock rip rap for miles to prevent the flooding. This would appear to be the bottom level of the Danube (Donoa in Austrian).

We had dinner on the ship this evening and a quiet dinner it was. Enjoyed the company of our team. On the nights other than the Captains dinner, we have taken control of the captains table and no one has challenged us yet They are all wondering who we are that we eat at the captains table each night. Turns out that we were the only group that would go there early on.

After dinner there was a music trivia contest which we know that we would run away with. Turns out we scored 11 out of 20 and came in second to the team that scored 16 out of 20. Oh well…good time but no trophy. Off to bed we go.

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